PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Grows Position in StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in StepStone Group LP (NASDAQ:STEP) by 444.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 969 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 791 shares during the quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in StepStone Group were worth $56,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in StepStone Group during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of StepStone Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. IFP Advisors Inc purchased a new position in shares of StepStone Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of StepStone Group by 36.6% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 844 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 226 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in StepStone Group by 25.5% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,079 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 219 shares during the last quarter. 55.54% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other StepStone Group news, CAO Anthony Keathley sold 538 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total transaction of $33,894.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,386 shares in the company, valued at $87,318. The trade was a 27.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott W. Hart sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.43, for a total transaction of $614,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 110,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,757,300. This represents a 8.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 18.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

StepStone Group Stock Down 3.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ STEP opened at $55.33 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.42 billion, a PE ratio of -32.74 and a beta of 1.33. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $59.25 and a 200-day moving average of $60.02. StepStone Group LP has a 52-week low of $33.92 and a 52-week high of $70.38.

StepStone Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. StepStone Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -56.80%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on StepStone Group from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on StepStone Group from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on StepStone Group from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, StepStone Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $69.21.

StepStone Group Company Profile

StepStone Group Inc is a private equity and venture capital firm specializing in direct, fund of funds, secondary direct, and secondary indirect investments. For direct investment, it seeks to invest in private debt, venture debt, incubation, mezzanine, distressed/vulture, seed/startup, early venture, mid venture, late venture, emerging growth, later stage, turnaround, growth capital, industry consolidation, recapitalization, buyout investments in mature and middle market companies.